Archive for May, 2017

June is named from the Roman month Iunius, or Junius, is named in honor of the ancient Roman goddess Juno (parallel to the Greek Hera) who is the wife of Jupiter and goddess of marriage. The first half of Iunius is a period of religious purification and was considered the most favorable time to marry by the Romans. It will also be the eight anniversary of this journal, so I may try and do something special for that.

Summer officially starts this month, so, any thoughts on a theme, reader? Send me your suggestions and I will try to act on them.

This May, the Journal hosted the RPG Blog Carnival with some success and I hope do do so again in the future. The following article were published here in May, 2017:

Share the Knowledge:

Like this:

“I knew that one-eyed woman was trouble,” said Voddick after catching his breath,

“I knew so too, but I did not expect her to be the leader of a band of bandits,” he said looking around the side of the tree. He yelped as a crossbow bolt buried itself in a branch a handspan above his head.

“More running?”

“More running.”

Hart’s Crossbow

Named after the crossbow of a famed bandit queen, which was probably lost, of course every one of them is claimed to be the one used by the Hart in her famous last ride before she disappeared. They are always light crossbows of good quality and usually decorated with carved panels, often made of mother of pearl, showing deer often in hunting scenes.

Like this:

Wizards of the Coast have put up an amazing Known World bundle up at RPGNow, it includes the D&D Rules Cyclopedia (the compilation of the Basic, Expert, Companion, and Masters rules) as well as all 14 (!) Known World Gazetteers giving you an entire fantasy world to explore (and/or steal from).

Not only is the D&D Rules Cyclopedia an amazing resource for early D&D, the Known World is a delightful setting rich with ideas to use and borrow to make your game world more fun. At it is priced at an amazingly good price of $15 for all this gaming goodness! Get it now before WotC realizes that they are almost giving this product away.

Note the above link is an affiliate link and I will gain a small amount of money if you buy using it.

Share the Knowledge:

Like this:

“Don’t let him tear that!” shouted Gollaon, throwing a dagger at the spy. Who ducked beneath it but momentary lost the firm grip on the paper needed.

“Right!” said Voddick feinting toward the paper and then driving his knee into the spy’s stomach.

“Bastard!” wheezed the spy trying to tear the paper only to have it snatched away from by Gollaon. Voddick clocked the spy on the chin and they went down.

“What would that paper do?” asked Voddick kneeling to bind the spy.

“Destroy every book here,” he answered with a gesture to the shelves of the library.

Library Bane

Originally designed as a way for a commander to quickly destroy vital papers so they would not be of use to the enemy, spies then got hold of it and used it to protect their secret intelligence from falling into the hands of the rivals, but soon enough, someone realized that it could be used as an offensive weapon. This item is a complex magical formula written on sturdy material, it is activated by deliberately tearing the formula. Read the rest of this entry ?

Like this:

Shadowrun: Cutting Aces is a sourcebook for Shadowrun and provides an odd mixed bag of information on the metaplot and setting which providing more options for social-based characters and challenges. As it covers some neglected aspects of the Shadowrun world, such as the Middle East and social skills, it is probably a good investment for a GM but the book is so unfocused unless cons or Constantinople are the focus of your campaign, I cannot say that it should be a priority to acquire.

Shadowrun: Cutting Aces, is a Deep Shadows Sourcebook for the 5th edition of Shadowrun, this particular book covers a variety of sins, confidence games and swindlers, Constantinople (formerly Istanbul) and a bit more about current events in the Sixth World.